The Toxic Tooth: How a root canal could be making you sick

By DDS Robert Kulacz and MD JD Levy

Is Your Smile Worth Your Life? What You Need to Know Before Undergoing a Root Canal Undergoing a root canal procedure isn't anyone's idea of a good time, but if one is necessary, we don't question its safety. According to Robert Kulacz, DDS and Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD, we should. Here, they reveal the hidden dangers of root canals. No

• Language: English
• Publisher: Medfox Publishing
• Release date: Nov 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780983772835

DDS Robert Kulacz

Robert Kulacz, DDS received his dental degree from New York University College of Dentistry, and he received post-graduate training in implant surgery and implant restoration sponsored by Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn N.Y. He abandoned much of his traditional dental practice after learning of the risks of some of the dental procedures he was performing. His first book, The Roots of Disease, with co-author Dr. Tom Levy was published in 2002. It introduced many of the concepts that The Toxic Tooth now greatly expands upon.

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Disclaimer

This book is intended to be an information resource only. There is no intent that this book be used for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. A specific doctor/patient or dentist/patient relationship is necessary before any medical or dental therapies are initiated. In no manner should this book, or any of the information in this book, be used as a substitute for diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical and/or dental healthcare professional.

Copyright © 2014 by Robert Kulacz, DDS and Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD

First Edition: 2014

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014916717

ISBN: 978-0-9837728-2-8 (PB)

ISBN: 978-0-9837728-3-5 (EPUB)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, ­recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Dedicated

to George E. Meinig, DDS, FACD (1914-2008), a tireless patient advocate and author of Root Canal Cover-Up

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Boyd E. Haley, PhD

Preface

Introduction: Why We Are Questioning the Safety of Root Canal Treatments—Again

Chapter One: The Case Against Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Two: Objective of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Three: Evaluation of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Four: Faulty Fall-Back of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Five: Impact of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Six: Defense of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Seven: Case Histories of Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Eight: Experience with Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Nine: Alternatives to Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Ten: Consenting to Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Eleven: Testimonials about Root Canal Treatment

Chapter Twelve: Beyond Root Canal Treatment

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Appendix F

Appendix G

Appendix H

References

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

As I have in the past, I want to thank my wife, Lis, and my daughter, Daniela, for making me so important in their lives and allowing me to live my life to the fullest. I especially want to thank my dear Mother, who passed away just before this book was published, as she has always been my number one friend, and she has always given me the most support for all my endeavors in life. I never did anything that I did not discuss with her first. Also, my sister, Cathy, has always been a strong source of comfort and support for me as well.

My good friend and colleague, Ron Hunninghake, has continued his invaluable support in allowing me to discuss and properly analyze any wild thought that comes into my head. So many of my thoughts would never have evolved without him.

Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD

The love and support of my wife Susan continues to give me the strength to never waver in my search for the truth. You got more than you bargained for when you married me; thank you for believing in me. My daughters Jackie and Jenna who let me be a kid again. You always make me proud.

To Bob Bull who has dramatically improved my tennis game: Thanks for being a great friend. Pretty soon I will beat you in a match!

And to all my other friends at Saw Mill Club, Steve and Lynne Levine, Lori Stern, Joe Bottino, Paul Cantor, Kevin Kane, Donna Arena, Miles Slater, Tom Formichella, Peter DeJong, Christopher Hussar for your encouragement and humor. I am very lucky to have you all in my life. To Marc and Nancy Epstein, you understand me and still like me, so thanks!

Robert Kulacz, DDS

Mutual Acknowledgments

Thanks and a great deal of gratitude are extended to Les and Cindy Nachman, without whom this book would not be a reality. And finally, a big thanks to Dave Nicol, who could not be a better editor. We often ended up expanding upon his thoughts, rather than just having him package our thoughts better. The book is enormously better because of him.

Foreword by Boyd E. Haley, PhD

This book by Drs. Kulacz and Levy should be required reading for all physicians and dentists. First, all the research that I have read over the years has supported the ideas of Dr. Weston Price that doing root canals on teeth makes them susceptible to multiple types of infection by bacteria that cause different systemic type infections. Dr. Price’s research was brilliant for its time.

However, the discoveries of Dr. Price caused problems for an area of dentistry called endodontics that was developing into a very lucrative business. His research was actively attacked by those who wanted no discussion on the safety of their money-making procedures. However, a Dr. George Meinig, one of the early endodontists who had issues with the root canal procedure’s safety, wrote a book called Root Canal Cover-Up which brought more to the forefront of the health dangers of the root canal procedure with regards to the causation link to multiple systemic infections.

Both Dr. Price and Dr. Meinig were attacked by their peers who wanted to maintain the illusion of root canals being safe. Dr. Kulacz is just one of the latest to feel the unjustified wrath of the Endodontic profession for asserting that infected, root canal-treated teeth could be the focal source for remote infections. Such infections, caused by the delivery of microbes from the infected teeth into the bloodstream, end up in specific organs and sites throughout the body, resulting in various systemic illnesses.

I was personally introduced to this issue through my involvement in the likely toxicological problems caused by mercury vapor escaping from dental amalgams. Dr. Hal Huggins informed me that the toxicity from teeth with root canals was much worse than the mercury vapor from an amalgam-filled tooth. I didn’t at all believe him but he insisted that I check out some teeth that he had extracted from patients, some with and some without root canals.

My research assistants were startled at the level of toxicity against brain enzymes that was observed by merely placing the teeth into distilled water and then testing the ability of this tooth treated water to inhibit or kill important enzymes found in brain tissue. From this initial simple testing we developed a procedure to test both teeth and gum-related crevicular fluid for toxic effects. The overall finding can be summarized by stating that dead tissue like root canal-treated teeth, if left in the body, will become infected with pathogenic bacteria, and this infection can, and usually does, spread to other parts of the body. When we tested teeth with root canals sent to us by dentists we never found a tooth that wasn’t toxic to some degree. However, some were extremely toxic indicating that they were capable of sending bacteria and exotoxins to other body locations that could cause extreme illnesses.

We were challenged by endodontists that this translocation of infective microbes could not and did not occur since some endodontists had attempted to prove Dr. Price’s focal infection theory to be invalid years earlier. In my opinion, the science that proved Dr. Price wrong was very questionable and poorly done.

However, a recent technology that won its inventor a Nobel Prize in Science, called Polymerase Chain Reaction or PCR, came into play and has provided incredible scientific support to Dr. Price’s focal infection theory. Simply stated, PCR can identify the infectious bacteria found to cause multiple systemic infections such as placenta infections leading to preterm labor and low birth weight, infections in atherosclerotic plaques leading to heart attacks, as well as multiple infections found in various organs like the kidneys, liver, etc.

This is not an outrageous concept, as bacteria from the oral cavity are basically the primary source of bacteria causing most systemic infections. The presence of dead, root canal-treated teeth, with the high levels of pathogenic bacteria formed within them from the oral cavity, greatly enhances the delivery of pathogenic microbes and exotoxins into the body. PCR studies have many times identified the source of pathogenic bacteria found in infected organs as being the same as found in root canal-treated teeth from the same patient. To deny this is absurd posturing—but it is done by those who wish to continue making a living by inflicting their patients with dangerous root canals.

Teeth with root canals also lead to jawbone osteonecrosis or cavitations that harbor the same pathogenic microbes that start out in the dead tooth. Cavitations can cause immense pain and suffering as well as donate microbial infections to cause systemic illnesses. In the time that I tested teeth and debris from cavitations for toxicity I found many teeth with root canals that had lower toxin levels than seen in cavitations. However, I never found any cavitation-derived material that was not extremely toxic to the test enzymes we used.

Over time, I became known to many patients that were treated for this toxicity by removal of teeth with root canals and extraction of the cavitational debris by oral surgery. Considering that this was the initial phase of many dentists trying to help their patients survive the systemic illnesses caused by questionable dental procedures, the success rate was quite impressive. The very scientific PCR studies show that they were on the right track. Yet even today there is strong denial from the Endodontic societies that root canals can lead to systemic infections and disease, and much of the strong scientific proof of the root canal-induced toxicity is ignored. Those that would reveal it are doing so at great personal risk for their professional lives. This book by Drs. Kulacz and Levy details this current struggle.

Dr. Boyd Haley

Professor Emeritus

Department of Chemistry

University of Kentucky,

Lexington, KY

Boyd E. Haley, PhD

CTI Science

Preface

When the New York State Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) began investigating my dental practice in 2005, I realized that there were many dentists who disagreed with me. I had once been where they were, completely immersed in a busy dental practice and totally unaware of the comprehensive and compelling research that exposes the systemic risks of root canal treatments.

At first, I allayed my nagging fears with a naive confidence. Surely these investigators were guided by a sincere concern for the public in general and my patients specifically. Once all the science, the microbiological cultures, the pathology reports, the X-rays, and the nearly miraculous patient outcomes were clearly set before them, their eyes, previously blinded by ignorance, would be opened—even as mine had been many years before. Ultimately the OPD would vindicate me and even embrace my practice of dentistry.

Boy, was I wrong!

I was soon to discover that these investigators, who were supposedly truth-seeking advocates for patient welfare, were no more interested in uncovering the truth than a cop who’s paid to look the other way.

When the decision was made to write this new book, I was not planning to recount the incredibly painful history that started with the OPD’s initial contact. However, friends encouraged me. They felt it would provide a reality check glimpse into the consequence of challenging long-accepted clinical paradigms of the American Dental Association. Plus, and maybe even more importantly, it could help explain the resistance patients will get from their general dentist or endodontist when they question the safety of root canal-treated teeth.

My journey began when a patient told me that his doctor had warned him against root canal therapy.

Before the realities presented in this book invaded my world, I performed dentistry just like the majority of dentists do. Life was good. I enjoyed what I did and I made a decent living from it. I was exactly where I wanted to be in life. I worked 4.5 days per week and made enough money to do just about anything that I wanted to do. I took flying lessons and got my pilot’s license. I bought a house. I bought an aerobatic airplane and flew it three or four times a week. I had a wonderful family and my wife and I were thoroughly enjoying raising our twin girls.

Life was great. I had arrived.

I often ask myself why I rocked the boat when everything was going so well. Frankly, I do not have an answer that provides me much comfort. I suppose I just felt obligated to go in whatever direction the scientific truth led me. At the same time I certainly understand much better the reasons why many other dentists would never even consider such a path.

My journey began when a patient told me that his doctor had warned him against root canal therapy, and that this procedure could initiate a wide range of medical diseases.

I quickly retorted, That’s ridiculous, whoever said that is completely crazy. You shouldn’t listen to such nonsense!

It made me angry that someone in the medical field would propagate this absurdity. I felt personally attacked so I began to research the validity of these claims in order to prove to my patient that his physician was wrong.

My quest led me to the works of Weston Price, Edward Rosenow, and Frank Billings, all pioneers in the early research clearly linking dental infections to systemic disease. Although I found their research very interesting, I just knew that these writings from the 1920’s were ancient and had certainly been disproved with more contemporary research.

Then I went to an International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology meeting where I attended a lecture by Professor Boyd Haley. At that time Dr. Haley was the department chair of chemistry at The University of Kentucky. He spoke about the toxicity that he found in all root canal-treated teeth and the detrimental inhibition of key bodily enzymes that had been demonstrated by testing the toxins released from these teeth. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Could this be true?

I searched in vain for any scientific studies that refuted the research of Price, Rosenow, Billings, and the evidence presented by Haley. To be fair, there were a few editorial articles in the Journal of the American Dental Association that were critical of these earlier scientists. However, rather than provide research or data to substantiate the position of the American Dental Association (ADA), these editorials attempted to discredit previous researchers on their experimental techniques. These articles never addressed the huge volume of data that had been independently amassed by these diligent scientists; they completely sidestepped the research demonstrating the risks of the root canal procedure.

What a blow to my professional pride. I didn’t like what I had discovered, but I couldn’t deny the powerful evidence. My patient was right and I was wrong.

Contrary to what I had been taught, I was forced to conclude that root canal treatment was not a benign procedure without systemic health risks. In good conscience, I could no longer practice dentistry as I had learned it. I had to change the focus of my practice.

Many of my patients noticed great improvement in medical conditions that had been plaguing them for years.

I knew that I if I were to best treat patients who were coming to see me, I had to learn a lot more about the intersection of dentistry and medicine. To satisfy this need for knowledge, I read through countless journal articles and consulted a number of medical textbooks.

During that time, many of the patients that I saw had migrated through a series of doctors without resolution of their medical conditions. Although I was in no way qualified to treat their wide variety of ailments, I wanted to know as much as I could about all aspects of medicine. I was convinced that the disconnect between dentistry and medicine was arbitrary, and was potentially harmful to patients. These disciplines needed to be integrated, and I wanted to work hand-in-hand with my patients’ physicians, knowing that my work could help improve their overall health.

It was not long before all of my time was devoted to treating acute and chronic oral infections. Many of my patients noticed great improvement in medical conditions that had been plaguing them for years, and my practice grew simply by word of mouth.

It would soon become clear that scientific validity and positive patient outcomes were irrelevant to them.

I did not treat everyone who came to see me. In fact, I turned away the majority of those who wanted surgery because they simply did not need it or they had unrealistic expectations about the outcome.

Never did I treat patients’ medical conditions or even suggest that their medical conditions were caused by a root canal-treated tooth or cavitation. I simply told them that I would surgically remove the dead and infected bone. If the tissue biopsies and microbiology cultures indicated that they needed additional antibiotic therapy, I would continue to treat them, but usually only after consulting with their physicians.

At times patients needed no further treatment. At other times the tissue biopsy and microbiological cultures revealed infection and inflammation with some highly pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Some of these were resolved with an oral course of an antibiotic while a few others required longer term, intravenous antibiotic therapy.

While my extraction fees were higher than those of most dentists, my pre-op consultation and extraction procedure was far more extensive. Often treatment included surgical tooth removal, biopsy and culture of all surgical sites, removal of the dead or diseased tissue in the bone around the residual tooth socket (debridement), and placement of antibiotic-impregnated graft material. These procedures were far more involved and time-consuming than traditional extractions. So even though I charged more for the treatment, my net income was about half what I made when I was practicing all phases of dentistry. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, it was never about the money.

As my oral infection treatment protocol became well known, I began to do a weekly radio show on Healthy Talk Radio with host Deborah Ray. I enjoyed speaking about various dental topics, and I was astounded by the wide range of dental experiences of the listeners who called into the show. It was at that time that I decided to write a book on the systemic effects of oral infections, mainly because I wanted a reference for my patients who wanted to learn more about this subject.

I asked Dr. Tom Levy if he would be interested in writing the book with me. I had met him a few years earlier and was very impressed by his knowledge and understanding of this topic. Thankfully, he said yes and The Roots of Disease was completed and published in 2002.

The popularity of the radio show and the book greatly expanded my public exposure and made me a prime target for attack by the dental boards. Any individual who speaks up and questions the belief system of an organization should expect that organization to retaliate. And although I had known of other dentists who were targeted by the dental board for practicing similarly, I naively felt secure. After all, I had a very detailed informed consent form, and I never talked anyone into a procedure. In fact, I talked more people out of treatment than I actually treated. I had pathology reports and microbiological cultures confirming infection in all the teeth and surrounding bone that I removed, and I had the science to back up all of my treatment decisions.

However, as admitted to me by the OPD attorney, none of this was of interest to the dental board. It would soon become clear that scientific validity and positive patient outcomes were irrelevant to them. They had a completely different agenda.

The New York State Dental Board began an investigation regarding the extraction of two root canal-treated teeth in one of my former patients. They requested a copy of my patient’s chart and all X-rays. I was a little concerned but I knew that my